Engineering & Mining Journal

AUG 2017

Engineering and Mining Journal - Whether the market is copper, gold, nickel, iron ore, lead/zinc, PGM, diamonds or other commodities, E&MJ takes the lead in projecting trends, following development and reporting on the most efficient operating pr

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NEWS - CONTINUED
22 E&MJ • AUGUST 2017 www.e-mj.com
AUGUST 29-31, 2017: AIMEX, Asia-Pacific's International Mining
Exhibition, Sydney Showground, Sydney, Australia. Contact: Web:
www.aimex.com.au/home/.
SEPTEMBER 6-7, 2017: Mining Electrical Maintenance Safety Associ-
ation (MEMSA), Sheraton Sand Key, Clearwater Beach, Florida, USA.
Contact: Web: www.miningelectrical.org.
SEPTEMBER 6-8, 2017: InterDrone 2017, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
Contact: Web: www.interdrone.com.
SEPTEMBER 18-21, 2017: Exposibram 2017, Belo Horizonte, Minas
Gerais, Brazil. Contact: Web: http://exposibram.org.br/.
SEPTEMBER 18-22, 2017: Perumin 33 Convencion Minera, Arequipa,
Peru. Contact: Web: www.convencionminera.com.
SEPTEMBER 23, 2017: National Mining Hall of Fame 30
th
Annual Induction
Banquet and Ceremony, the Pinnacle Club, Grand Hyatt, Denver, Colora-
do, USA. Contact: Francine Webber, events manager; Tel: 719-486-1229;
Email: Francine@MiningHallofFame.org.
SEPTEMBER 24-27, 2017: Solution Mining Research Institute (SMRI)
Fall Technical Conference with optional technical class on "Well
Integrity Management" (class subject will be repeat of spring 2017),
Münster, Germany. Contact: John Voigt; Tel: +1 570 585 8092; Email:
smri@solutionmining.org; Web: www.solutionmining.org.
OCTOBER 18-21, 2017: The 6
th
International Congress of Mining Ma-
chinery and Technologies, Izmir, Turkey. Contact: TMMOB Chamber of
Mining Engineers of Turkey; Web: http://immat.org.
OCTOBER 23-28, 2017: XXXII Convención Internacional de
Minería 2017, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Contact:
Web:www.mineross-cdmx.com.
DECEMBER 3-8, 2017: American Exploration & Mining Association's
Annual Meeting and Exposition, Reno, Nevada, USA. Contact: Web:
www.miningamerica.com.
JANUARY 28-31, 2018: 44
th
Annual Conference on Explosives and Blast-
ing Technique, San Antonio, Texas, USA. Contact: Web: www.isee.org.
FEBRUARY 25-28, 2018: 2018 Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Explo-
ration (SME) Annual Conference & Expo, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
Contact: Web: www.smenet.org.
MARCH 4-7, 2018: Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada's
annual meeting, Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto, Canada.
Contact: Web: www.pdac.ca.
APRIL 23-27, 2018: Expomin 2018 Espacio Riesco, Santiago, Chile.
Contact: Web: www.expomin.cl.
NEWS - CALENDAR OF EVENTS
dent and CFO of the company. After the
separation, Nick DeIuliis will serve as the
president and CEO of the E&P business
and Rush will serve as the executive vice
president and CFO of the E&P business.
The Form 10 also contemplates that
the coal business will operate under the
name CONSOL Energy Inc. after the
spin-off, and that the E&P company will
operate under a new name that will be
announced at a later date.
The spin-off remains subject to certain
conditions, including obtaining final ap-
proval from the board of directors and the
SEC declaring the Form 10 effective.
India's Utility NTPC Bets
Big on Coal
Contrary to the government's avowed
policy, coal will continue to remain the
mainstay of India's largest power gener-
ation company, NTPC Ltd. The company
is forging ahead to become the country's
second largest coal miner after Coal India
Ltd. with plans for large investments in
new coal-fired thermal power plants.
Having made a mark as a coal pro-
ducer from its captive coal mines in the
current fiscal year, NTPC Ltd. aims to
achieve coal production of 107 million
metric tons per year (mt/y) over the next
few years.
In tandem, the power utility is plan-
ning to invest $10 billion on constructing
three new coal-fired thermal plants with
aggregate generating capacity of 5 giga-
watts (GW), although officials said this
investment was yet to be approved by the
government and NTPC board of directors.
NTPC was allocated 10 new coal
blocks under the government's prefer-
ential allotment dispensation for gov-
ernment-owned companies. With an es-
timated coal reserve of 7.3 billion tons
of coal in the 10 allotted captive mines,
NTPC commenced its own coal produc-
tion in the current fiscal year, targeting
to extract 3 million tons by March 31,
2018, and ramp this up to 107 million
tons over the next five years as more
greenfield captive mines progressively
get into production.
"Coal mining has become integral to
NTPC's fuel security strategy," officials
said. "Reliance on coal will go a long way in
ensuring sustainable growth of generation."
The three planned coal-fired plants
would be double that of the combined
capacity of older plants that NTPC
planned to mothball over the next few
years owing to the plants completing
their lifecycle.
NTPC's mining and generation expan-
sion plans were significant against the
backdrop of regulator Central Electricity
Authority's forecast that operational ther-
mal power plants and projects already
under construction would be sufficient
to meet India's projected power demand
until 2027 given slow growth in power de-
mand at 5%.
However, analysts observed that ratio-
nale of NTPC's expansion was not mis-
placed as the slow demand for power was
only a short-term trend considering that
300 million of India's population was
still not connected by a power grid. And
the additional demand from unconnect-
ed households coupled with industrial
growth could not be met through ramping
up renewable generation capacity, and
reliance on coal would continue in the
foreseeable future.
NTPC currently operates 20 coal-
based thermal power plants with aggre-
gate generation capacity of 38,755 MW.
Its strategic plan includes a generation
target of 128,000 MW by 2030.
(News-This Month In Coal - from p. 20)